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Cross-site Scripting occurrences in Name Directory

The Name Directory WordPress plugin before 1.25.3 does not sanitise and escape a parameter before outputting it back in the page, leading to a Reflected Cross-Site Scripting. Furthermore, as the payload is also saved into the database after the request, it leads to a Stored XSS as well (2022-07-25, CVE-2022-2072)

Why Cross-site Scripting can be dangerous

Cross site scripting is an attack where a web page executes code that is injected by an adversary. It usually appears, when users input is presented. This attack can be used to impersonate a user, take over control of the session, or even steal API keys.

The attack can be executed e.g. when you application injects the request parameter directly into the HTML code of the page returned to the user:

https://server.com/confirmation?message=Transaction+Complete

what results in:

<span>Confirmation: Transaction Complete</span>

In that case the message can be modified to become a valid Javascript code, e.g.:

https://server.com/confirmation?message=<script>dangerous javascript code here</script>

and it will be executed locally by the user's browser with full access to the user's personal application/browser data:

<span>Confirmation: <script>dangerous javascript code here</script></span>

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